Finding Out about Our Ancestors

By Sandra Creaghan Bunting (Published in The New Brunswick Shamrock, July 2004)

When Canadians hear the word migration, we might think of herds of reindeer crossing and re-crossing our northlands or the v-shaped flight of the Canada geese flying away from the red-mapled autumn to gentler climates. Indeed, we as a people are often compared to our feathered friends in our search of warmth. The label ‘snowbirds’ has been attached to Canadians wintering in Florida, Arizona or other areas with an abundance of sunshine.

Migration can also refer to a permanent one-way movement of a group of people, in what is known as emigration. That is exactly what a centre in Omagh, County Tyrone, is looking at. The Centre for Migration Studies deals with migration from the whole of Ireland, and especially Northern Ireland, to the US and Canada. The focus of study is on movement and settlement from 1600 to the present.

Of special interest is the centre’s database, which contains a large amount of information on migration to North America. Visitors are welcome to do genealogical research or make use of the extensive library. Many original documents are in the possession of the centre and have been scanned in the computer for easy access. These include newspaper articles, shipping ads, passenger lists, official government reports, extracts from books and various immigrant letters home -interesting reading that gives an insight into their experiences. Even if information on your particular relative is not there, a sense of where he or she came from can be gained. A small amount of this data has been put on the web on an experimental basis and the centre hopes eventually to have the entire database available on line.

As part of its aim to develop interest in the subject, the centre has hosted a series of events and conferences and offers a Masters Course in Irish Migration Studies. The course, part-time over two years, is affiliated to Queen’s University, Belfast. Dr. Paddy Fitzgerald, lecturer and development officer, said the course has attracted scholars from both sides of the border, in all walks of life. There are teachers, genealogists and others.

“The course acts as a prism to view Irish history through in a relaxed way,” he said. He went on to say that it allowed students freedom (away from divisions) to deal with the Irish diaspora, and through it, reach a better understanding of each other and themselves.

The centre is also important in encouraging the establishment of other such research and learning facilities around the world and maintaining ties with existing ones. The Centre for Migration Studies in Cork is temporarily closed. Its website stated lack of sufficient funding as the reason. The centre in Omagh has worked on projects with Cork and hopefully will do so again in the near future. Work is also being done at the Research Centre on Human Settlement in Galway and Omagh has been in touch with this institution. It has relations with other universities in the UK, the US and worldwide. Carleton University in Ottawa has been the latest Canadian connection.

When she visited the centre, the Irish President, Mary McAleese, described it as a place that valued the record of the individual in one of Ireland’s defining stories, emigration. She said emigration was seen to be a sign of failure because people, seeing chances closed down for them, left because of poverty, hunger or social or political exclusion. But because the ties were not cut, President McAleese said, Ireland today knows the strength of a global family, turning the tragedy of emigration into a success story.

The centre, officially established in 1998, grew out of a previous resource facility of the Ulster-American Folk Park (something like New Brunswick’s King’s Landing or Acadian Village). The project began with a descendent of Judge Thomas Mellon of Pennsylvania purchasing the old homestead outside Omagh with some kind of museum in mind. Judge Mellon had left the site at the age of 5 in 1818. Gradually, other historical buildings were either moved to the site or reconstructed to represent both sides of the Atlantic.

There is an American part and an Irish part. When I was there at Halloween we were given food in each section and asked to say which we liked best. I had to admit I liked the simple Irish colcannon and apple tart better. But then again my own pumpkin pie was nicer if I do say so myself.

Just a few kilometres outside of Omagh, the park is lively and holds seasonal events. As I said, I was there on Halloween night with my children and their friends, and the ghosts were out. A tour guide brought us from house to house, strange occurrences in most of them. As we did set dancing in one house, in another we did square dancing. There were grave robbers, fields of pumpkin-head scarecrows, pirates, fortune-tellers and witches. Out of the bushes, monsters jumped as we made our way along the dark muddy paths. We bobbed for apples, sang along and ended up listening to a story that still frightens me at night. I won’t tell you, You will have to go back next Halloween. An enormous amount of work went into the festivities. It was an interesting way to see the park.

Fireworks are illegal to sell in ‘The Republic’ except for official public displays. In the North, they were freely available and, on Halloween, bursts of blues, pinks and greens went off all night. Bonfires were also a tradition and there were several huge ones, old rubber tires and all.

The town of Omagh, you may remember, was the scene of a huge terrorist explosion by the ‘Real IRA’ on August 15, 1998. The bomb destroyed much of the city centre, leaving 29 dead and many injured. A hilly town, it is almost all rebuilt or in the process of being rebuilt. It is a quiet place with friendly people. I was delighted to see Mickey Hart, the manager of the Tyrone Gaelic football who led his team to win the all-Ireland championship this year. Also there was well-known Tyrone comedian, the dry Kevin McAleer.

Located near the Sperrin mountains (that separate it from Donegal), the countryside around Omagh was beautiful with lakes, islands, hills and little country roads. I stayed in a delightful hostel, a big house in the country about 5 kilometres north of Omagh called, not surprisingly, The Omagh Hostel. It was not easy to find at night with all the turns and the narrow roads, but waking up in the morning to such peace was worth it.

The Centre for Migration Studies would like to strengthen the links between Canada and Ireland. In last year’s annual report, centre chairman, Sir Peter Froggatt, said it provided a vital link in Northern Ireland and a crucial resource for those who wanted access to ‘credible and scholarly’ information about their heritage.

The Maritimes had consistent links with the North of Ireland. Development officer, Dr. Paddy Fitzgerald briefly outlined emigration from Northern Ireland to eastern Canada by saying that it wasn’t famine that mostly caused that particular migration. There was steady emigration in the first half of the 19th century when, because of shipbuilding, boats would bring timber to Derry and take back passengers. According to Dr. Fitzgerald, emigration actually started to trail off around 1847, the time of famine, and picked up again in the early 20th century.

Because of time restrictions, I was unable to use the facilities at the centre to trace my ancestors. My family has already found the origin of the Creaghan side in Mount Bellew in east Galway. However, the Bunting side was always more elusive. More than likely from the North, the family’s last residence in Ireland was said to be at a Protestant rectory in Ballyvourney, West Cork. The trail has gone cold. No One could even find the church. However, although I had no time to use the data base at the centre, I did go away with some helpful tips from staff to help me with my search, if I still want to pursue it. And I can always go back another time to the centre.

Through the folk park, student exchanges and universities, the centre has established a strong working relationship with the United States. It would like to develop a similar connection to Canada and has set out a series of goals to that end. One idea is to use the web to provide information, supply links and open channels of communication. Another is to act as a contact point for Canadians living on the island of Ireland and develop resources of particular interest to them. As a Miramichier living in Galway, I was delighted to hear that. Close links could also be formed through events that celebrate Irish-Canadian heritage. Conferences or visits would be useful. Tracing families remains an important aspect of the centre’s planned activities, as well as promoting educational, cultural and community connections.

The website for the Centre for Migration Studies is located at www.qub.ac.uk/cms
and the folk park is www.folkpark.com. The address is 2 Mellon Road, Castletown, Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, BT78 5QY.

It is all about co-operation. If you have any information, documents or research on Irish in the Maritimes you would like to share, I’m sure they would be of interest to the centre. In the same way, if you have any question about family origins in Ireland, the centre website will be of great help once it is completed.